Dry Ice For Car Dent Removal

All it takes is one trip to the food store or mall and your car can acquire a dent. Most dents are not readily noticed, but once spotted you’ll begin to look at your once pristine car with dismay. Time to take it to the body shop, right? Well, no.

Unless you don’t mind paying handsomely to have the garage do a job that you can easily handle yourself.

Dry Ice

You could use a handheld dent puller to do the job. This may be your only option with a very large, creased dent. Be prepared to drill some holes, pull out the dent and then plug the holes with bond filler and repaint. Suction cup dent pullers are another option, but those don’t always work. Besides, if there was something you could use that costs no more than $2, wouldn’t you be intrigued?

That low cost item is a block of dry ice, a super cooled chunk of solidified carbon dioxide. Touch it with your hands and you’ll get burned. Wear insulated gloves and safety glasses and you should be fine.

Fast Work

If the dent is on the hood, roof or top of the trunk, then all you have to do is leave the dry ice on the dent for a few seconds before removing it. The dent should relax and disappear. You may have to repeat the process before the dent goes away. If the dent is on the side of the car, then you’ll need to hold the block of dry ice against the body for the same amount of time. You’re wearing gloves, of course, which will prevent you from getting burned.

Once the dent has disappeared, then wash the area down with a soft cloth. Use touch up paint too if the dent chipped your body’s coat. As always, work in a well ventilated area to avoid being overcome by toxic dry ice fumes.